Kirsty is easing her little one, Yara (7 months) onto lumps to help her build confidence with new textures. Take a look at how Kirsty still introduces lots of new flavours and ingredients over a week in their weaning journey.
We started weaning when Yara was nearly five months,” says Kirsty. “While I am aware that the advice is to start babies at six months currently, she showed an interest in food and was not sleeping properly.” [Current advice from the NHS is to start at six months.]
“I usually spoon feed her with blended foods. Sometimes I will let her feed herself if I think that she will not choke or gag,” explains Kirsty. “I find that when she gags, it puts her off the food she is eating, and she tends to remember the experience and not want that particular food again. She does usually seem hungry though and has never spat out a spoonful of food!
Fruity Wholegrain Porridge mixed with milk powder (for six months plus) and warm water, plus blended apple and banana purée to make sure she has a good amount of fruit. When we started weaning, I tried her on baby rice mixed with milk, once a day, then tried small amounts of porridge once a day, until we have built up to three meals a day now, plus pudding after dinner!
I made her a dish of homemade carrot, cauliflower and peas, with two leaves of mint, blended. Then she had fromage frais for pudding.
Three strawberries as a finger food and some squashed, warmed dates.
Homemade potato and broccoli purée with grated cheddar, which had some dried mixed herbs in it. She ate this really well and then didn’t want pudding.
We stuck with the same breakfast as yesterday, as she liked it – so porridge and yummy fruit again.
I cooked some baby sized pasta, which I served with puréed tomatoes, courgette and Kiri cheese (a soft, processed cheese especially for children), with some dried mixed herbs. She really liked this.
She ate a quarter of a banana, chopped into baby sized fingers and a little baby biscotti.
She ate the rest of portion of potato, broccoli and cheese purée from yesterday.
Plain breakfast porridge this time, mixed with four smashed blueberries – she seemed to like the colour!
Today I made a variation of the pasta she liked from yesterday, this time with courgette, peppers, leek, parsley and tomato.
She munched on an apple rice cake and a couple of warm dates. Sometimes I give her half a rusk to chew on during the day as well if she seems hungry, or if she has been quite active.
I gave her an easy dinner of mashed up potatoes, cauliflower and peas. For pudding, I baked some plums and served them warm with some fromage frais. She ate a lot this evening and I do think you should be guided by your baby when it comes to appetite, not by books.
Again, she had porridge with four smashed blueberries. Yara eats a mixture of jars and pouches, alternated with homemade fruits, vegetables, cereals, fromage frais and hand-held rusks and biscuits.
Today we tried something a little different; she had half an avocado and then half a banana with fromage frais. She has this really funny habit of shivering when she eats a cold fromage frais. She opens her mouth and as soon as it goes in, she shivers. She has become so used to doing this and seeing me laugh, that now, even if I give her an empty spoon, she thinks it’s fromage frais and she shivers and hasn’t even eaten anything! She just does it for the laugh!
She ate two strawberries as a finger food and a Kiddylicious soft banana bake biscuit.
She had pasta, mixed with courgette and tomatoes. I also gave her some grated apple. This was really interesting as it was a new flavour and texture; she scrunched her face up as she ate it but carried on eating it anyway. However, it quickly became a game – she slapped at the apple, then picked it up, then slapped it again, then ate it and scrunched up her face as though it was bitter and repeated this all over again. I ended up washing her clothes, my clothes, and the kitchen cupboards! When grated apple dries, it STICKS!
Plain porridge mixed with puréed prunes.
She had the remaining portion of homemade pasta, courgette and peppers, which I had frozen. I think this baby will be a real vegetable lover. The acidity in fruit doesn’t seem to suit her tastes much but she eats it if I blend it with something else. She does seem to love dates, though!
She refused a snack today, as she’s teething.
She had another re-heated portion of my homemade potato, broccoli and Kiri, mashed very well. For pudding, she had just plain fromage frais – again, with funny faces!
Porridge mixed with two squashed strawberries as a change.
Today’s homemade meal was a mixture of puréed spinach, carrot and cauliflower. She followed this with fromage frais again, as it’s such a hit.
Today she had two of the Kiddylicious banana soft biscotti. They are fast becoming a favourite.
I tried offering her homemade couscous for the first time today with blended vegetables, including sweet potato, swede, carrot, tomato, turmeric and cinnamon. She found the couscous grains horrible and refused to eat them, then started to gag, and pushed my hand away. This was quite a surprise and I think it was the texture she found unusual, rather than the flavour, as she has had pasta before. For pudding we decided to play it safe smooth rice pudding, which we know she loves.
Her favourite porridge again, with four squashed blueberries.
I tried her out on homemade vegetable soup, which included carrot, swede and sweet potato, with red lentils for protein, blended well.
Half a banana and half an apple rice cake.
Tonight, she had puréed broccoli, spinach and potato. It reminded me of the time I tried her with cod once and made her a baby fish pie with blended vegetables – and she absolutely hated it! She turned away as soon as she smelled the spoon, then sneezed when it came near her and it just went everywhere, all over the kitchen!
Today, she didn’t want any breakfast as she is teething again. She drank some milk and has been chewing her fingers.
I gave her the vegetable sauce that I put on the couscous the other day, all very mashed. She only had a few spoons and was rather moany, again because of the teething, I think. She went to sleep after a warm bottle.
A couple of Kiddylicious blueberry wafers.
Again, I offered her the vegetable purée I made for the couscous but without the couscous. Today she ate most of it and seems a bit better. For pudding, I gave her squashed poached pears with a small bit of fromage frais to keep her interested.
Porridge with four squashed blueberries.
Again, she refused her lunch and was rubbing her mouth due to the teething.
Because she had missed her lunch, I gave her a really easy to eat and digest snack of half a rusk mixed with milk and some cereal mix. I made into a thick blend and she ate it and then went to sleep.
I gave her some steamed broccoli florets as a finger food so she could try to feed herself. She ate a bit and then rubbed her mouth – she isn’t quite getting the hang of it yet and perhaps her teeth are still bothering her. She also had half a portion of homemade blended carrot that was in the freezer, warmed up. She didn’t want pudding, but I did give her a drink of milk. I’m going to try to introduce fish and chicken in the next few weeks but whilst she is so young, I’ve stuck with vegetables.
Fruity wholegrain porridge with milk and half a strawberry.
Pasta with courgettes, peppers, leek, parsley and tomato, mixed with some grated cheddar cheese. Pudding was a banana, chopped into little pieces which she tried to eat by herself.
She had pureed courgette and tomatoes. She seemed to like it better than the first time I tried this flavour. Today, I’m planning on making her some mini muffins with banana and dates for sweetness and instead of flour, I will use blended porridge oats. When I give her warm (pitted and mashed) dates, she can’t get enough of them, she becomes so excited she shakes and opens and closes her outheld hands as though she is about to experience something fantastic!
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